Players:

Radek Simunek

Sam Ross

Keyur Patel

anonymous

Jerry Lillard

Dave Sheppard

Bart Burgmans

Dammy Olubokun

Pejman Taghavi

Armand Guri

Shaz Khaliq

Substitutes:

Scored goals:

Report

An away game at Dolni Pocernice was to be played on an astro-turf surface much smaller than Partisan are used to. Partisan's run in the league saw them needing to win to maintain a high position. Partisan began strongly and were clearly the stronger side. However the small nature of the field made it difficult to craft any creative passages of play. It was very condensed and any attempt at long/through balls would invariably run straight through to the Dolni keeper. Frequent offside decisions were being given against Partisan throughout the half. Which either meant Dolni were playing a very tight back line, or the referee's assistant was somewhat flag-happy. Many Partisan players believed it to be the latter. Khaliq was denied an early goal within the opening 15. The referee appearing to be the only man on the field with an explanation as to why it was disallowed. Which in turn, he refused to share with anyone. Terrific. Olubokun crafted himself a fantastic 1-on-1 chance midway through the first half when he stole the ball on the halfway line. On another day he would have converted, as it was, the keeper stood strong and blocked a tame effort by the winger's usual high standards. Khaliq and Guri were seeing little sight of the goal despite being involved in some patchy approach play. It was Taghavi who seemed to be getting on the end of various balls across the Dolni box, striking the bar on more than one attempt in the first half. Nothing seemed to be going in. Had one of these found the net, it may have opened the game up. As it was, the first half ended goalless. Half Time: Partisan 0 - 0 Pocernice Dolni began the second period with slightly more about them, working a handful of shots from outside the box. None of which really troubling Simunek in goal. Only once did he spill a cross and Partisan looked in danger of conceding. The persistent offside decisions were beginning to bother the expats. Taghavi taking particular umbridge and telling the referee exactly what he thought about it. Sheppard, with typical aggression in midfield picked up a booking for a late challenge on the halfway line early on and then late on in the second half appeared to collect a second yellow which seemed to go unnoticed by many on the field. Including the official's notebook. He remained on the filed for 90 minutes. As the game neared its conclusion, Partisan became increasingly frustrated at the prospect of effectively dropping 2 points as a result of not being able to bag the deciding goal. Guri, who seemed decidedly off-colour by his standards had perhaps the best opportunity of the half but couldn't quite get his shot off in a packed 18 yard box. Dolni, it seemed had settled for the draw and had men behind the ball and came out with a point, with the game ending 0-0. Burgmans, captaining the expats had seen fit not to change things during the course of the game due to the tight nature of the contest. Unfortunately on this occasion, the 3 substitutes had to watch-on agonisingly from the sideline. Not a loss, although to Partisan it must have felt like it. 1 point. With the Christmas break approaching for the Prague league, Partisan know that they have to put these kind of games to bed early on next year if they are to assert themselves at the business end of the table.